Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Spitting on One’s Cake and Eating it Too

Amidst all the hand wringing and offers of sympathy for ex-Bishop Bobby of Pittsburgh there has been something delightfully contradictory: aren’t all Bible-believing Anglicans supposed to despise the Bishops that deposed little Bobby? So why then do the faithful Gafconeers keep acting as if the Pittsburgh Pirate has been done a terrible disservice?

Call me old-fashioned, but if some sex-crazed apostate liberal told me I was no longer welcome in their Jacuzzi of sin I should feel complimented, not insulted. Their rejection of me would be proof that my inordinate virtue has set me apart from their own filthy ways. Let’s face it, were consistency an attribute required of conservative clergy and prelates (and how I give thanks that it isn’t) little Bobby and his friends would be celebrating that he is now no longer encumbered by a church besmirched by faithlessness.

Yet when interviewed by Christianity Today Bobby tells us that “For the worldwide Anglican Communion to see me deposed has been absolutely sobering, and even moderates are shocked and stunned by it.” Which, if true (and you must remember this is Bobby Duncan talking), suggests to me that the worldwide Anglican Communion must be even sillier than we already think.

For goodness sake, dear Sinners, What did everybody think was going to happen??!! Ask anyone with a real job: if you continuously insult and defame your boss, organisation, and nearly all your colleagues, you will eventually be shown the door. If you regularly boast that you’ll soon be leaving and taking your employer’s property with you it’s a safe bet the process of your dismissal will be considerably hastened. So why the surprise?

What little Bobby is displaying is a common tendency among Reasserters to want to spit on their cake and eat it as well. They love defaming the Anglican Communion, and telling anyone who’ll listen how it’s rotten to the core, but then they’ll scream like babies when it gets taken away from them. It’s a trait common to many of us who are Doctrinally Pure, but one must know when to stop and not take things too far. Or else the rest of the party just gets bored and gives you what you’ve been asking for. Which, as ex-Bishop Bobby Duncan appears to be discovering, isn’t necessarily what you want.